316 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



a great feast in cooking and eating him, and the noise 

 racked my brain. Night brought no relief. Quiet was 

 all I wanted, but that it seemed impossible to have ; be- 

 sides which, the rancho Avas more than usually abundant 

 in fleas. All night I had violent fever. Mr. Cather- 

 wood, who, from not killing any one at Copan, had con- 

 ceived a great opinion of his medical skill, gave me a 

 powerful dose of medicine, and toward morning I fell 

 asleep. 



At daylight we started, and arrived at Istapa at nine 

 o'clock. Captain De Nouvelle had not yet gone on 

 board. Two French ships were then lying off the port : 

 the Belle Poule and the Melanie, both from Bordeaux, 

 the latter being the vessel of Captain De Nouvelle. He 

 had accounts to arrange with the captain of the Belle 

 Poule, and we started first for his vessel. 



I have before remarked that Istapa is an open road- 

 stead, without bay, headland, rock, reef, or any protec- 

 tion whatever from the open sea. Generally the sea is, 

 as its name imports, pacific, and the waves roll calmly 

 to the shore ; but in the smoothest times there is a 

 breaker, and to pass this, as a part of the fixtures of the 

 port, an anchor is dropped outside, with a buoy attach- 

 ed, and a long cable passing from the buoy is secured 

 on shore. The longboat of the Melanie lay hard 

 ashore, stern first, with a cable run through a groove in 

 the bows, and passing through the sculling-hole in the 

 stern. She was filled with goods, and among them we 

 took our seats. The mate sat in the stern, and, taking 

 advantage of a wave that raised the bows, gave the 

 order to haul. The wet rope whizzed past, and the 

 boat moved till, with the receding wave, it struck heav- 

 ily on the sand. Another wave and another haul, and 

 she swung clear of the bottom ; and meeting the coming, 



